Lately, you hear Cohen’s music everywhere — on major U.S. network TV shows like Billions and The Americans, in famous video games like Assassin’s Creed, while “Hallelujah” is becoming a global anthem.

This Leonard-mania moment is the perfect time to name something after the man who left his gravel-voiced mark on the Main and Montreal. But what should it be?

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

If we name a street there are many possibilities: his home was on tiny Vallières St. in the Plateau, but do we want a pint-sized block for a musical giant?

Others suggest Parc du Portugal just across the street, where the week-long Cohen vigil took place. But why cause problems for the Portuguese community? We’ve lived through our fill of divisive street fights, from Dorchester-vs.-René-Lévesque Blvd. to Parc Ave., to University St, er … Robert-Bourassa Blvd.

But Cohen was a man of peace.

We could look at his songs for inspiration. Marianne is an obvious choice, as we already have a street named Marie-Anne in Cohen’s hood. We’d just have to change the spelling and then say “Hello, Marianne” and “So Long, Marie-Anne.”

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Then again, we could follow Suzanne “down to a place by the river.” But which one? Most major streets and squares there have historic names, so which could we possibly change: Place d’Armes, Notre Dame or Hôtel de Ville?

Hmmm. Maybe we could rename the river itself and change the St. Lawrence to the St. Leonard River? It has a nice ring.

On second thought, the name St. Lawrence goes right back to Cartier’s second voyage to Montreal in 1535, and is the continent’s sixth-oldest surviving European place name.

So sorry Leonard, it’s even more sacred to us than “Suzanne.”

Perhaps Cohen’s Jewish heritage could entice Côte-St-Luc to step up, as they have with streets named for Einstein, Freud, Chagall and Irving Layton. But Leonard would require a bigger boulevard.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

How about changing Côte-St-Luc Blvd. to Côte-St-Cohen? That street is ostensibly named after St. Luke, the evangelist. But how many Catholic street saints does our supposedly secular city need? Maybe it’s time for a Jewish saint?

If this idea disturbs Luc-lovers we could always name it Cohen-St-Luc Blvd., which has a nice ecumenical and bicultural flavour.

In truth, Cohen has always been a unifying cultural force between Montreal anglos and francos — our city’s East End and West End both see him as a native son.

The elegant way to express that would have been naming the road over Mount Royal after him, and changing Remembrance Road to Remember Leonard Way. But nowadays the mountain road is dividing Montrealers more than uniting them, so let’s leave Leonard out of the fight.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

Others say let’s forget street battles altogether and honour him with something else: a building, or statue, or bike path, or bench — anything but a Richler-style gazebo.

How about the Royal Victoria Cohen Wing of the new MUHC superhospital? Few anglos remember what all those bureaucratic initials stand for anyway — and can barely pronounce them.

So maybe we should rename the whole Glen site The Leonard Cohen Superhospital.

The most talked-about idea is renaming the Quartier des Spectacles, our Jazzfest Ground Zero, whose name has no emotional meaning to anyone. There’s talk of changing it to Place Leonard Cohen, or Le Quartier des Spectacles Cohen.

Advertisement

Story continues below

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content continued

I prefer the simpler Quartier de Cohen — though Hallelujah Place might draw pilgrims of wildly different kinds from around the world.

Ultimately, Cohen’s reputation towers over Montreal like a Tower of Song. So maybe we should just rename the Olympic Stadium — and change the Big O to the Big L.

Too grandiose? OK, I vote for something much smaller. Cohen’s signature line is “There’s a crack in everything,” from a song he obviously meant as an “Anthem” to Montreal’s crumbling pavement.

If we really want to remember the poet-laureate of Montreal, and keep his name in our hearts daily, let’s change the spelling of our omnipresent orange cones — to Cohens.

That way his name will be on the tip of our tongues till, well … the end of time.

Share this Story: Josh Freed: Show me the place you're going to name after Leonard Cohen, Montreal

Trending

Related Stories

This Week in Flyers

Article Comments

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Notice for the Postmedia Network

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.